Can We Fix The Skills Gap?

The following guest post is by Dennis Yang, president and COO of Udemy.

As many as 39 percent of people under 25 are either unemployed or underemployed, according to a recent article predicting a dismal jobs picture for the newest members of the workforce. It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that we have a jobs gap - not enough jobs for the number of job seekers. This may be true, but we also have a skills gap. Employers report frustration at not finding skilled workers; and, according to the
Manpower Growth 2012 Talent Shortage Survey, 49 percent of employers struggle to fill jobs. Jobs wait to be filled - current job seekers just lack the right skills.

The disconnect between how educators and employers see college graduates’ preparedness provides insight into one source of this problem. While 72 percent of educational institutions believe recent graduates are ready for work, only 42 percent of employers agree, according to a McKinsey study. Do academic institutions adequately prepare today’s graduates for our competitive and dynamic work environment?

Part of the problem may be that traditional educational institutions weren't designed for a fast-changing market where skills depreciate quickly. Universities weren’t designed to change curricula and introduce new classes at the pace required by changing industry requirements.

Exacerbating this problem is the fact that we now live in a world in which half of today’s jobs didn’t exist 25 years ago. How do you prepare students for jobs that don’t exist today? You can’t. Education is no longer something that happens between the ages of 6 to 22, and then it’s over. The line between the years we learn and the years we earn has blurred; to stay relevant, workers train must nonstop. Even if educational institutions evolve and ensure newly minted workers are ready for employment, workers must continue learning throughout their lives to stay relevant. We’re talking less about K-12 education and more about K-Gray education, kindergarten to retirement.

The good news is that we can close the skills gap if job seekers and employers work together. Job seekers - be they recent graduates or more experienced workers - need to step in and take skill development and education into their own hands. Many of them already take advantage of the rich experience offered by online, bite-size courses. These courses are perfect for the digitally competent, mobile and easily distracted 21st-century student. The problem is, as Josh Bersin of Bersin by Deloitte points out, “most students are not sure ‘which educational program’ will help them find a good job.”

A number of leading companies, like
Target, Goldman Sachs and Macy’s, are known for their long-standing, innovative training programs for recent college graduates. Graduates from a diverse set of majors are chosen for their aptitude and are trained at the company’s expense to address missing skills. These programs are intense (typically over a month in length), taught in person by former practitioners and valuable for career success at the company and beyond. These programs serve as a means of getting undergraduates with contrasting backgrounds - think English major versus finance major - on the same page to deliver value for the organization. Assessments are given throughout the training to determine progress through materials. As a result, college seniors compete feverishly for these coveted positions. But, what happens to those exceptional students who don’t make the cut? What about students at the many schools with few visits from recruiters?

The PI Kappa Alpha Fraternity (PIKE), a college fraternity on 225 campuses, is taking one approach to help its 15,000 members close the skills gap. The organization turned to an online platform to provide students with practical skills and career content, like resume writing and other necessary training, in an easy and fun-to-use online format. PIKE sees increasing usage and engagement in courses as its members near graduation.

How can we apply the lessons of these types of training programs in a more systematic way to narrow the gap?

Bring Transparency to an Opaque Process

Making job requirements more transparent would go a long way toward bridging the skills gap. Companies would define jobs not only by traditional job descriptions but also by a set of skill-based courses over which prospective jobs seekers can demonstrate mastery. Job descriptions could include a playlist of courses required to prepare for the job. This approach would help students figure the education and skills required for a given job. With the rise of online courses, creating a playlist is easier than ever.

The same approach could be extended to employed, experienced individuals looking to advance within their own organizations. Managers could work with employees on individualized learning plans to close employees’ skills gaps and help them reach that next level. Employees often find that a new job in a particular department requires a specific set of skills rather than a degree. By framing job requirements as a “playlist of courses,” to show mastery, employers benefit from hiring from within, and employees know exactly what is required for the next rung up on the ladder.

With courses available online and on-demand, every job seeker and every employee can take courses personalized to their career goals. At the same time, access to readily available and easily customizable content may encourage employers to hire and train less experienced workers because of the ease of providing relevant, personalized internal training. As SurveyMonkey CEO, Dave Goldberg, points out, taking a risk on and training less experienced employees can be less costly than hiring more experienced employees.

As it turns out, advances in online learning may be the best news yet to match emerging members of the workforce with companies struggling to fill jobs.